How to use your iPod to move your music to a new computer

Summary

Got a new computer and want to move your entire iTunes library? With iTunes 8 or later there is a backup feature that will archive your entire library to CD or DVD, including ratings and playcounts, which can be moved to another computer. If you are interested in moving your library using this method click, here.

Home Sharing in iTunes 9 is another option that enables you to move your iTunes library. You can stream and transfer music, videos, and more with up to five other computers on your local network with no need to burn discs; click here to learn how.

If you do not have access to a CD or DVD burner then there is another option if you own an iPod. Because your iPod contains a high-capacity drive, you can use it to move all your music from your old computer to the new one (however, this document does not apply to iPod touch).

Note: While you can use the Transfer Purchases from iPod option under the File menu to copy iTunes Store purchases from the iPod to another computer, you can’t transfer songs from other sources from the iPod library to iTunes, so you’ll need to follow the steps below to use iPod as a hard disk to transfer music files from one computer to another. This process will require the use of iTunes 7 or later on all computers. Any computers running iTunes 6 or earlier will need to be updated to follow these steps. Download the latest version of iTunes here. Once you have the files transferred, you’ll need to authorize any iTunes Store content. If you won’t be using your old computer, you’ll want to deauthorize it.

Important: Windows operating systems don’t recognize Mac OS-formatted disks (HFS or HFS Plus formats), so you can’t use a Mac-formatted iPod to move your music to a Windows PC. See "iPod: How to determine iPod’s hard disk format" if you’re not sure what format your iPod is.

If you’re not going to be able to complete these steps all at once, it’s a good idea to make sure that any new content gets added to the iTunes Music folder. If you’re not able to finish these steps, select the "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" if it’s not already selected. This will ensure any content you add before finishing these steps gets added to the iTunes Music folder.

Click OK.

For iTunes 9 or later choose File > LIbrary > Organize Library > Consolidate Files. For iTunes 8.2.1 or later choose File > Library > Consolidate.Note: A window may appear that reads: "Consolidating your library will copy all of your music into the iTunes music folder. This cannot be undone."

Click Consolidate. Note: Clicking Consolidate will cause iTunes to copy all of your music files to another location on your computer. You will need to manually remove the files from their previous locations if you are concerned about drive space. If your computer does not have enough hard-drive space this process will not work correctly. Please speak to your computer manufacturer or Microsoft for more information on how to obtain more space to perform this action.

Is there enough room on the iPod?

iPod shares its hard disk space between the songs that iTunes puts on it and any files you’ve added when using its disk mode. To transfer music with your iPod, you need enough free space to hold a copy of all your music files in addition to any copies that may already have been placed by iTunes (this is because non-purchased songs placed on the iPod by iTunes cannot be copied off the iPod while in disk mode). To figure out how much space you have on your iPod:

Open iTunes on your old computer.

Click on Music on the left side of the iTunes window. The size of your Music library appears at the bottom of the iTunes window: Repeat this for the other libraries (Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, Audiobooks, Applications, and Ringtones). Add these to get the total space required to consolidate your library.

Connect your iPod to your old computer and wait for it to appear in iTunes.

Click iPod under Devices on the left side of iTunes.

The amount of free space on iPod appears near the bottom of the iTunes window:

Free up space on iPod

If your library is larger than the amount of free space on your iPod, you’ll need to free up some space on it. Here’s how:

Click iPod on the left side of the iTunes window.

Click on the Music option listed under iPod. (If you do not see this option, click the gray arrow next to the iPod to reveal the iPod’s contents).

Click any song that appears in the main part of the iTunes window (to the right).

Choose Edit > Select All. Important: The next step will delete all music from your iPod. If you have been using automatic update you don’t need to worry, because all your music is also on your computer. If you have not been using automatic update, and your iPod has music on it from another source (other than your iTunes library), following the next step will delete that music.

Press Delete on the keyboard. If you see a message that says "Are you sure you want to remove the selected items from the list?", click Yes.

Copy iTunes folder to iPod

To copy all your music files (including the library file that holds all your playlists and other settings) to your iPod:

Get iTunes ready on your new computer

Open iTunes on your new computer. If this is your first time to open iTunes on your new computer you will need to choose your options in the iTunes Setup Assistant.

Connect iPod to your new computer.

Back up any music that’s already on your new computer

Do you already have some music showing up in your Library in iTunes on the new computer? If so follow these steps to make sure this music gets saved (You can see how to add it back into iTunes in the Adding music on new computer back in section below). If not you can skip down to the Copy music to new computer section.

Switch the iPod back to automatic update

To set up your iPod to be updated with all your music from iTunes on your new computer:

Open iTunes.

Select iPod on the left side of the iTunes window and click the Music tab in the iPod Settings.

Click the “Sync music” option, and the “All songs and playlists” option. An alert message appears:

"Are you sure you want to enable automatic updating? All existing songs and playlist on the iPod "ipod name" will be replaced with songs and playlists from the iTunes music library."

Optional: Uncheck the Enable disk use checkbox in the Summary tab if you don’t want to use the iPod as a disk. If you leave this option checked you need to eject your iPod from iTunes before you disconnect the iPod from your computer.

Click Apply.

The iPod update begins. All your music is now on your new computer, and after the update completes it will be on your iPod again too.